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You know, it sounds like they could simply make an entire episode that covers whatever the Hero did in the Demon realm for the BD/DVD release.

That seems to be a popular marketing tactic these days, no? Even Spice and Wolf had a couple of disc-only episodes (one per season).

But as a non-manga reader and anime-only viewer...the latest episode had some very good scenes that tried, and mostly succeeded, at developing the characters a little more. The Merchant, in particular, came across as closer to grey than black, in terms of moral attitude, which is an improvement over his introduction. Not sure if I like the Hero's inability to act on his feelings for Maou, but that's becoming a given by this point. I did like how they addressed his teleportation powers though.

However, I still think having so many time skips isn't a good idea. The Female Knight's arrival was taken for granted and came across as a little too sudden, though I definitely enjoyed her interactions. I suppose the series won't be able to escape that particular problem, but at least the actual content remains interesting enough.

I've read the manga as well. But I believe the anime is doing a pretty excellent job with its own interpretation of the Light Novel.

Apart from the rushed pacing, Anime-only viewers won't understand much of what you are talking about.

While there were scenes that were adapted well, however, much of the economic, social, and political elements were handled poorly even if I judged it solely by it's own merits. As Kanon stated, the scenes were dry, dull and uninspired to the point it was quite tedious to listen to. I kind of zoned out when Young Merchant and Crimson Scholar were negotiating and the scene with Grampa Archer and Winter Prince felt the same.

You know? I take back anything bad I said about Female Knight, she's just too hilarious>v<. In fact, I propose a name change: Female Berserkavalier, because every time Hero's not around, she reacts like a steroid-filled athlete asking for some Gatorade. *empty barrel*who drank ALL THE DAMN GATORADE!?*smash*DAMMIT!

There's a lot of cutesy "feel-good" sappiness that kinda takes away the tension, as both our protagonists don't really encounter any (elaborate) resistance to their ideas and it's just Savior Crop of the Week so far. It's already kind of jarring from the implied cultural stubbornness seen from the first two episodes.

They've violated Show Don't Tell with that little Hero montage. I was actually surprised when I saw it was 12 episodes only.

Now that I think about it, it was a huge mistake not to see Demon vs. Human armies clashing in the very first episode, as that sets the conflict in a huge engaging manner instead of just Hero blabbing on about how the Demons are so (justifiably) horrific when all the demons we see are just this cute girl. There's no CONTRAST, that's why the first meeting between them seems to lack any impact.

They try to set this up as some kind of tragedy and gradual acceptance of each races when the viewers don't really see any huge conflict.

Ok, first let me point out that the seires is primarly a comedy of an absurdist humor bent, the intro of the LN even points it out that the story starts at the climax of an adventure story where both the Hero and Villian say screw it and go fix the world. It never realy takes itself too siorusly. Realy they haven't focused on anything that is a threat to anyones power base yet barring the merchents and they backed down once they saw there was more to gain in working with her then killing her.

As for the show don't tell bit the way the LN is writen it is very much like a radio play where a lot of events are relayed in conversations, For example:

Quote:

----Stables

???: “................................................”

Hero: (There’s human auras?)

Maou: “Wait a moment, light spell...” Lights up

Big sister: Shiverng

Little sister: ’Shaking uncontrollably

Hero: “....what? It’s children?”

Maou: “What is it? You’re just wearing underclothes!”

Clack

Chief Maid: “Oh, what is going on?”

Maou: “Chief Maid.”

Chief Maid: “They become lost and snuck in here again. Ha....”

__________________

Higurashi: Its a bit like watching a trainwreck, except you keep getting to see different trains wrecking with roughly the same passengers, into a variety of different objects. Also, the trains are driven by monkeys. On LSD.
click to play

Ok, first let me point out that the seires is primarly a comedy of an absurdist humor bent, the intro of the LN even points it out that the story starts at the climax of an adventure story where both the Hero and Villian say screw it and go fix the world. It never realy takes itself too siorusly.

Well, that certainly puts the anime on a different perspective for me. At first I thought that this was a serious anime, since it dealt with themes such as slavery, starvation and wars... but as the episodes went by there just wasn't any tension. In fact, lately I feel that the anime was putting too much focus on Maou's... err.. assets. And getting her embarassed as often as possible.
If the original material doesn't take itself too seriously, then I suppose I've been looking at the anime wrong... which explains why I've been a bit disappointed.

Came in expecting tension, war and backroom politics. Guess I'll stay for ... erm... humor? And economy lessons.

Ok, first let me point out that the seires is primarly a comedy of an absurdist humor bent, the intro of the LN even points it out that the story starts at the climax of an adventure story where both the Hero and Villian say screw it and go fix the world. It never realy takes itself too siorusly. Realy they haven't focused on anything that is a threat to anyones power base yet barring the merchents and they backed down once they saw there was more to gain in working with her then killing her.

I'm not complaining about the comedy or the romance's existence, but the world presented here doesn't feel "alive" as the anime wants you to believe, nor do the characters. Regardless of the novels, the anime clearly wants the viewer to believe this is a living, breathing universe based on art detail and the serious take on themes of starvation, war profiteering, and macroeconomics.

From the chapters I have seen and the comments I have read so far I think it is plain to see this show is made on a shoestring budget, which is fine with some kind of animes that can pull it mainly with the talent of the voice actors, but the scope of this tale has some grandeur that the actual animation time cannot convey.

Yuusha's uneasiness is kind of understanding, but wish it was expressed better with more development instead of him pretty much just monologuing it for us.

It was a little vague to me, though I did like them fleshing out his character. There's a line in the original that specifically explains that he's concerned about his death because he assumes that--as a human--he'll die before Maou (I guess demons are longer lived). Cutting that line made his reasoning seem a little morbid, rather than grounded in a specific reality.

As Theo pointed out above, it doesn't help that the only demon we've actually interacted with in the series is so human, I actually forgot she wasn't human *despite* her name!

Animating some of his adventures in this episode would have been a better narrative choice in a lot of ways, but speculation about the budget is probably correct. I mean, I'm sure they would have loved to have the fights animated, too... But with 12 eps, some things have to go, I guess. Oddly, I believe the author's next work is getting 26 eps.

Sigh... I don't know what to feel about this episode. For one thing, it's now clear that they'll try and finish a large part of the story in 12 episodes. The pacing is way too fast. This is probably the first anime episode I've watched that I've truly felt was... subpar, even from an objective point of view.

The opening and ending is keeping me going, though. Any news on release dates?

EDIT: After rewatching it, I thought some scenes weren't too bad. There was some tension throughout the negotiation, for example.

You know? I take back anything bad I said about Female Knight, she's just too hilarious>v<. In fact, I propose a name change: Female Berserkavalier, because every time Hero's not around, she reacts like a steroid-filled athlete asking for some Gatorade. *empty barrel*who drank ALL THE DAMN GATORADE!?*smash*DAMMIT!

One Female Knight bit i wish they had kept was why she cut the sword. The 3 were balking at being trained by a woman.

__________________

Higurashi: Its a bit like watching a trainwreck, except you keep getting to see different trains wrecking with roughly the same passengers, into a variety of different objects. Also, the trains are driven by monkeys. On LSD.
click to play